What Can You Do To Save Fuel In Your Car?

With the price of fuel ever on the increase it is costing more and more every time we go to fuel up our cars. In many cases families are having to make the choice of whether to spend money on fuelling up the car or buy something for the family. Once you have fuelled the car and driven away from the filling station you are one of the millions if not billions of people who are choking up the environment with the fumes that your car exhaust spews out into the atmosphere. Emissions from motor vehicles are known to be responsible for almost half of the airborne pollution that we breathe in every day. Pollution that has been linked to the increase in respiratory diseases such as bronchitis and asthma.

It can make a big difference just by switching the car that you drive to a more economical, fuel efficient model. But who can find the money to just go out and buy a new car? Instead you should look at the options that are available that you can do yourself to increase your fuel economy.

Dangerous Scams

The more that fuel prices increase the more new products that claim to boost fuel economy are coming onto the market. Some of them could be described as being ineffective at best, but others are just out and out scams. Some of these gadgets are mechanical in nature rather than additives that you can add to your fuel tank. Some of these mechanical devices not only decrease rather than increase fuel economy but they can also do irreparable damage to your car. So before you decide to spend your money on something in the belief that it will work, do some research on the product first. Thankfully there are things that you can do yourself that do not rely on any special gadgets but will still save you money on your fuel.

Do It Yourself

If you have the money you could invest in an electric car, or a hybrid model. It is possible however to have your vehicle converted from a traditional petrol or diesel powered engine into an electric model. If you are mechanically minded you could probably do what some other car owners have done and do the procedure from scratch yourself, but if you are less sure there are a number of conversion kits on the market that you can buy. They do vary in price though and with some kits you may be required to get the installed by a registered installer.

The biggest downside of running an electric car is the time that it takes to charge the batteries, so extra planning is required if you are wanting to make a long journey, as you will need to factor in charging stops. The average distance that an electric car can travel on a single charge is between one hundred and two hundred miles, depending upon the cars make and model – cars that have been converted are known to have an even shorter range.

Mark Stevenson is a leading author and blogger on all things cars – he regularly visits RegPlates for more information and all the latest news.